植菌昆虫及共生真菌共生机制

大约4-6千万年前,3种昆虫类群：白蚁、蚂蚁及食菌甲虫独立进化了培植真菌作为食物的能力,完成了从收集、捕获到主动种植真菌作为食物的生活方式的转变。“耕种”的生活方式最终使得这些昆虫占据重要的生态位。这3类昆虫种植真菌的过程具有明确的人类农业的特点,包括接种、培育、收获以及对培养物的营养依赖。围绕这些环节,昆虫适应不同的功能而进行分工合作,同时通过与一类放线菌共生,利用其产生抗生素来保护菌圃。切叶蚁（attine ant）及其共生真菌、白蚁（termite）及其共生蚁巢伞、食菌甲虫（ambrosia beetles）及其共生真菌是典型的被广泛研究的真菌和昆虫共生体系。而这种培植真菌的能力并不仅仅存在于以上3类昆虫中。植菌卷叶象甲Euops chinensis精心制作叶苞并接种储菌器真菌;蜥蜴甲虫Doubledaya bucculenta以及树蜂Sirex spp.也存在接种共生真菌作物的行为。从本质上讲,昆虫的真菌培植体系与人类的农业体系非常类似,因此对于种植真菌昆虫的系统研究能够为应对全球粮食短缺和农业持续高产提供一些有价值的参考。

Mutualistic mechanism between fungus-growing insects and symbiotic fungi

Insect developed the ability to cultivate fungi as a food source about 40-60 million years ago, and this represented an evolutionary transition from a hunting-gathering to a farming lifestyle. Agricultural life ultimately enabled all of these insect farmers to rise their ecological adaptability. Insect fungiculture shares some defining features of human agriculture including habitual planting ("inoculation"), cultivation, harvest, and nutritional dependency. A handful of insects, notably the well-recognized fungus-farming ants, termites, and beetles, have developed advanced agriculture, which includes seeding new gardens with crop propagules, improving growth conditions, and protecting the fungal crop by using symbiotic actinomycetes. More examples being called “proto-fungiculture” show excellent farming skills, as exemplified by leaf rolling weevils that farm mycangial fungi on leaf cradles, marine snails that farm intertidal fungi on marsh grass, lizard beetles that farm mycangial fungi on bamboos and woodwasps that farm white rot fungi. Investigation of adaptive features of these fungus farming insects would provide much practical value for human agriculture.